Maduro’s replacement launches ‘purge-lite’ to consolidate her power Rodriguez has predecessor’s ‘frontman’ arrested while promoting ‘torturer’ general in fine balancing act to tighten grip on Venezuela
Delcy Rodriguez has shuffled key figures in a bid to control a fractured ruling movement Credit: Maxwell Briceno/Anadolu via Getty Gen Gustavo González López was regarded for a decade as Venezuela’s torturer-in-chief as head of Sebin, Nicolás Maduro’s feared intelligence agency. The general was also sanctioned by the US for his harsh repression of pro-democracy protesters. At the same time, Alex Saab, a construction magnate, was allegedly amassing billions of dollars through murky contracts supplying a government social housing scheme as an alleged “frontman” for Mr Maduro, who then named him industry minister. But since US…Read more …